Guest Post: Chocolate Spinach Cake With Leaf Prints

Goooood morning everyone, how are you all? Ok, I will dispense with the small talk considering I promised you no more guest posts for a while and you are glaring daggers at me but hear. me. out. I am not sure if you remember but a couple of weeks back, in August, I guestposted over at Cakewhiz- A Cake Geek’s Resource. Now, this blog is run by Abeer and if you have not heard of it already, I am sorry to say but I must remove that rock you have been living under ;)
I asked Abeer if some time, she would like to guest post one of her masterpieces one day here. Yes, I did say masterpiece because Ms Abeer is. an. absolute. artist. I do not even know where to begin with her decorating skills, baking and cooking skills and the fact that everything she makes could be put up on display in some high-flying location.

Not even kidding you… if you go to her blog you are bombarded by fabulous fondant, exquisite ruffling and basic cake design gone over the top in a very good way :D

So yes, Abeer agreed to guest post and that was for my holidays :) – Aaaah, I see the eyes light up in excitement now :D
Without further ado, I present Abeer with another awesome creation (which is even a little healthy) and very easy on the eye – I hope you all enjoy it and Abeer, thank you very much for making this cake for today :D

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Hey guys! I am Abeer, the face behind a little blog called “Cakewhiz- A Cake Geek’s Resource.” I love dressing up my desserts and making them look pretty, especially CAKES!

Call me crazy but this is the way I see it… we eat through our eyes AND our mouth. Cakes will only end up tasting sweeter when they are “dolled up” and “beautified.”

When Uru asked if I could possibly do a guest post for her, I was quite taken back coz her recipes are to die for! Seriously, I go into a chocolate-induced coma (the good kind) every time I visit her blog. But, she is such a darling that I had to go an extra mile with the recipe I am sharing today.

I only hope my chocolate spinach cake with leaf prints is just as good as her fantastic recipes!

The inspiration for making leaf prints on a cake came quite randomly…I was preparing dinner and god knows why, I stopped to admire the veins and intricate details on a mint leaf. I am odd like that … I tend to zone out every once in a while…hehehe.

I do have to admit that making these prints brought back memories from my childhood. You see…as a kid, I used to enjoy making leaf prints on poster boards and in one unfortunate incident, I even made leaf prints all over the house walls…hahaha. Needless to say, my parents were pissed… hahahah.
Oh… to be a child again…lol

I made this cake for a friend’s party and on my way there, there is a beautiful park. So, I stopped to take photographs.

If I wasn’t running late, I would have taken some pictures of this park as well. The scenery there was just breath-taking. They even had this old-fashioned water pump or maybe it’s a water fountain… it was pretty neat!

Like I mentioned earlier, underneath all the decorations, you will find a delicious chocolate spinach cake.

You must be thinking I am out of my mind for making such an odd cake. But honest to goodness, it is unbelievably delicious!

It’s very rich with a strong chocolate flavor AND the best part is you you can’t even taste all that spinach.

It took a few tries to get this cake just right but it was completely worth it since you won’t feel TOO guilty indulging in this “awesomeness.”

Chocolate-Spinach Cake w/ Leaf Prints

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1 1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup water

1 1/2 cup hot milk

2 tbsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 cup finely chopped spinach ( no puree…I was scared that would make it bitter)

Pour batter into a greased/floured cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.I used an 8×3 round pan and it was filled about 3/4 of the way…I still had some leftover batter for a few cupcakes)

Let’s do the cool stuff now and make leaf prints. These are the steps:

Dip your paintbrush in some edible color (I used Wilton’s fondant colors… they are very concentrated and work nicely). Now, brush this paint onto your mint leaf. You will need to use different mint leaves for each color that you use. Also, make sure you have a few mint leaves handy coz after brushing paint on them multiple times, they get very limp and tear easily.

Roll out some white fondant and sprinkle powdered sugar to prevent sticking. Make sure you don’t roll it too thin. I kept it quite thick. Press the painted leaf onto this fondant gently.

Now, carefully peel the mint leaf away from the fondant and you will see a leaf print.

Do this as many times as you need to and in different colors. Then, use a pair of scissors and cut around each leaf roughly. No need for accurate cutting… it looks better slightly jagged. **TIP: After making leaf prints on a sheet of white fondant, let it just sit on the table for an hour or so. The air dries up the fondant a little and cutting it becomes easier.

To paste these leaf prints onto your cake, brush some water behind each piece. Don’t brush too much water coz it gets very sticky and sloppy.

Stick these pieces onto your fondant-covered cake. I applied them in a random pattern. You can try different patterns…

For the border, I rolled out three “snakes” of white fondant and pinched them together at the very top. Then, I started braiding them just like I braid my hair…hehe…

Once again, brush some water behind the braid and stick it around the base of your cakes.

And you are done!

Quite cool…right?

You can even see the delicate leaf veination!

I think this “leafy” cake is perfect way to bid farewell to Summer and welcome Fall. What do you think?

And that’s enough yapping from me… I hope all of you liked this cake and I would love to stay in touch with you through either Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest.
Thanks for having me Uru… doing a guest post here has been a pleasure.

Did I or did I not tell you her guest post would be absolutely insanely awesome? Spinach, chocolate, cake, design + a full tutorial too! Thank you so much Abeer, I already know how much everyone enjoyed it :D
Your results were utterly utterly utterly inspiring!

Before I leave, I would just like to drop a quick note to one of my best friends, TT, whose birthday was today – SHE TURNED THE BIG 1-7 :D:D:D – Of course, because of that blasted fever thing, I was unable to make her… cheeseburger-spider-concoction (code word guys, don’t worry that is not really it ;)) so hopefully I will be making, giving and posting it to – HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY OREO-OBSESSED BUD!

Abeer, you are a perfect match for guest blogging on Go Bake Yourself. You have an admirable appreciation of chocolate, are willing to experiment (with a veggie, no less!) and you came up with an amazing design. Thanks so much for being here, and, CCU, thanks for having her.

So wonderful to see two amazing bloggers working together
I love the idea of the leaf print Abeer..I do tend to space out too and happened to notice the intercate pattern of a mint leaf but never thought of making something as wonderful as this with it

What gorgeous cake and those leaves are amazing! It would be quite hard to eat this because it just too pretty. I wouldn’t know where to start cutting! Can’t believe it has spinach in it! Nice to meet you Abeer!

Your friend is quite an artist and Im glad you kept yourself busy while I was away. I personally would call spinach “adventurous” and maybe have a try (especially when it looks so good) but I think I would be too scared to do it myself. I tend to stick to my easy-peasy chocolate :))
I’m sending you loads of huggs and smileys
Best Wishes
Little Housewife

P.S
Love the new layout, its definitely more on the bright side then the last one Ive seen ;)

This is something for me .. but I will only bake the cake .. not all the fancy bits – would take me days to do. Stunning looking cake, you’re some star! Have baked with fresh basil before – and it has become one my favorite desserts now. This I will try very so – will come back to you.

Wow, Uru, thanks for sharing!! Abeer, I am definitely a new fan. That cake looks absolutely beautiful and spinach cakes are right up my alley…my sister has been known to turn up her nose at my avocado brownies and beet chocolate cakes (which I love!) :)